Don't debug this chip: boffins at the University of Bath have embedded bacteria on a chip to create a cheap water-quality sensor.
Instead of needing expensive lab kit to see if water is safe to drink – a serious problem anywhere the civil infrastructure is lacking – the bio-sensor contains bacteria that produce an electric …

Re: Neat.

Neat, but the spectrum is the thing to look at.

Something that's bad for those bacteria may be completely harmless to us, and vice versa. It's also not telling you which pollutant is in the water, just that there's something there that may possibly be bad for you.

It's nice for quick 'n dirty work, but you've got reagent kits that are just as efficient, and tell you more about what's going on..

Re: What if ?

The hope is that exposing the devices to a variety of conditions globally will result in a mutant self-powered machine that can then be used for military purposes.

Scientists have built-in controls to prevent these devices becoming self aware. Or at least self aware before April 11, 2019 (there was a typo in the widely known dates when machines were supposed to become aware....)